When The Night Has Come
by TheOrginalBibliophile
Summary: Percico slow dancing to a love song with Percy quietly singing the words in Nico's ear; this happening during the apocalypse and they both know they're going to die.


Disclaimer: I do not own, nor do I make any profit from, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, or _Stand By Me_ written by Ben E. King.

Warning: This is a boy/boy fic. If you don't like it, don't read, and don't complain. Also, as the description implies, everybody dies. I got a prompt, I wrote this fic. Don't hate me.

When the Night Has Come

Ψ

It was cold and quiet. An iridescent glow from the moon was the only light that fell on the two demigods. They were broken and bloody and struggling to rise to their feet. Percy, with his wavy black locks matted down with blood, was the first to stand using the smooth stone wall as a brace. His left ankle was badly injured—probably broken—and his right shoulder and arm were torn open. Percy bent down and lent his good hand to Nico, who had a deep, nasty gash that ran from under his left armpit down to his navel as well as a horrible burn from a hydra that covered nearly the whole of his torso and went down his left thigh.

"Wh-where are we?" Nico hoarsely whispered, spitting dirt and blood out of his mouth, and struggling to breathe.

"Dunno. Some kind of pit?"

"No shit Sherlock, I can see that much," he gasped out, blood trickling down his chin, "But how did we get in it?"

"Um…well the last thing I remember…," Percy paused and shook his head, he was attempting to clear his double vision and sort out his jumbled memories, "…was Lycaon gutting you when you jumped in front of me…then I got hit over the head by…Porphyrion maybe? A giant laughed and then we were being buried in the earth by Gaea…and now we seem to be in a pit."

Percy took that moment to thoroughly inspect their surroundings. They were in a deep pit made of stone, it was perfectly round and smooth with a diameter of maybe twelve feet; he guessed it was at least fifty feet deep. Percy tried to lift his right hand to inspect the wall but dropped it immediately with a pained hiss.

"Percy! Your sword arm! Ar-are you—ambrosia! Do you have any?" Nico hurriedly hobbled over to his boyfriend to inspect his plethora of wounds.

"Not anymore. It was in my pocket…that apparently got ripped away at some point," he said gesturing to his tattered jeans that were barely staying on his hips, "The walls—they're too smooth for climbing, and I can't feel any water nearby…do you think you could shadow travel?"

Nico latched on to Percy and closed his eyes, attempting to draw the shadows to him before gasping out in pain and just barely catching his balance before falling to the ground, "N-no, I-I can't…I can b-barely stand, I d-don't have enough energy—I'm so sorry Perce," Nico sobbed.

"Hey, hey, hey, none of that…you've got nothing to be sorry for. You're hurt and have lost a lot of blood and you've already used your powers a ton today. I love you Nico, and I'm proud of you," Percy soothed, pulling Nico even closer wrapping his good arm around his waist.

"I love you too Percy," Nico cried into his boyfriend's shoulder, "It's n-not fair! I w-worked s-so hard to p-protect y-you…I never wanted…You're hurt and it's all my fault…please, don't d-die."

"What do you mean?" Percy grunted into Nico's curly hair.

"E-everything I've done…it was all for you: b-banishing those skeletons when I was ten, t-the labyrinth, f-finding a way for you to bathe in the Styx, when you were missing…every day I went to Camp Jupiter looking for you, leading the others to the doors of death s-so you wouldn't d-die in T-Tartarus, taking back the Athena Parthenos, coming back to fight…everything."

"Nico…" he whispered at a loss for words. Nico loved him _that_ much, and since he was ten, and just, wow. Percy didn't think he was capable of loving Nico any more than he currently did, but his heart swelled at that revelation, "I had no idea. I love you so much. I love you, I love you," he murmured while peppering Nico's face with kisses, "I let the world burn to save you—I wanted to protect you just as much as you did me…You know, this situation is kind of ironic-"

"Big word for a kelp head like you," he interrupted with a smirk.

"Shut up. Anyways…I mean, we're both hurt like shit because we took blows to protect each other. If-if we would've ignored each other, focused on our own fights…maybe we wouldn't have-"

Nico hushed him with a kiss, "I guess you're not the only one whose fatal flaw is loyalty. It got us both in the end. I took those wounds because I wanted to, nothing could have changed my mind."

"Nothing could have stopped me either," Percy said with a bitter smile, "…Nico."

"Yeah."

"Are we gonna die?" Percy whispered so softly Nico almost didn't hear him.

"…yeah…I can feel it."

"'kay."

"Love you."

"Love you too."

"Love you more."

"Love you most."

The two demigods held each other in their arms, arm in Percy's case, trying to get as close to each other as possible. Nico relished in the fact that, no matter what, Percy smelled like the salty sea. His natural musk drowned out the reek of blood, sweat, and dirt that clung to both boys and comforted Nico. He could feel their souls getting weaker; feel that tug in his gut whenever someone close to him was near to death. Briefly, Nico wondered what would happen to them without Thanatos to collect their souls. They had failed. The gods were defeated, Gaea was rising, their blood—the blood of Olympus—that was soaking the stone floor beneath their feet was helping her to rise. Nico's depressing thoughts were interrupted when Percy suddenly spun him around.

"Wha-" he practically screamed.

"_When the night has come  
>And the land is dark<br>And the moon is the only light we'll see  
>No I won't be afraid<br>Oh, I won't be afraid  
>Just as long as you stand, stand by me<em>,"

Percy softly crooned in his ear while leading him in a slow kind of waltz.

"Percy."

"_So darling, darling  
>Stand by me, oh stand by me<br>Oh stand, stand by me  
>Stand by me,<em>"

Nico smiled into Percy's chest as he was spun around their small dance floor, slick with blood.

"_If the sky that we look upon  
>Should tumble and fall<br>All the mountains should crumble to the sea  
>I won't cry, I won't cry<br>No, I won't shed a tear  
>Just as long as you stand, stand by me<em>,"

"Perseus…" and didn't Percy just love how Nico whispered his name like that. He hated when anyone else said it but Nico, with that subtle accent of his, made it sound just right.

"_And darling, darling  
>Stand by me, oh stand by me<br>Oh stand now, stand by me  
>Stand by me<em>,"

Percy began singing a little louder, his melodic voice (Who knew he could sing?) was echoing throughout their small prison.__

"_So darling, darling  
>Stand by me, oh stand by me<br>Oh stand now, stand by me, stand by me  
>Whenever you're in trouble won't you stand by me<br>Oh stand by me, oh won't you stand now, stand  
>Stand by me<em>,"

"I love you Perseus Jackson."

"I love you Nico Di Angelo."

The ground began to shake violently. Nico and Percy clutched each other tightly as they slipped on their own blood and fell to the ground. Bits of rock and clumps of earth began to rain down on the two lovers as they fought to stay together. A wicked sounding laugh echoed loudly throughout the pit causing the boys to flinch.

_Thank you little demigods for helping me rise_, Gaea chuckled, _it's too bad you denied me and won't be alive for my reign. Farewell little ones, until the next age, _she ominously rumbled.

And with one final peal of laughter Gaea fully collapsed the pit, crushing Percy and Nico to death. Their souls damned to endless wandering without Thanatos and Hades to guide and welcome them home.

Ψ


End file.
